Spider-Man 2 was just as anticipated as the first one, if not even more so. After all, the $40.5 million it made on opening day surpassed the first film by more than $1 million. This film picks up where Spider-Man left off, with Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finding it more and more difficult to juggle his double life.
When Peter’s idol, scientist Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) has his current experiment malfunction, he is taken over by a set of mechanical arms that he himself created. This is the birth of Spider-Man’s newest villain, Doctor Octopus, also known as Doc Ock. He rebuilds his experiment, but needs one vital component: tritium, which is the fuel for the reactor.
Harry Osborn has a supply of tritium, but first he wants Doc Ock to bring to him Spider-Man; the man responsible for the death of his father. After a fantastic and action-packed battle, Doc Ock prevails and completes the trade with Harry. He removes Spider-Man’s mask, and that is when he finally finds out that his arch enemy Spider-Man is really his best friend, Peter Parker.
But Doctor Octopus has kidnapped Mary Jane, and Spider-Man convinces Harry to tell him where the two are so he can save their shared love interest. When Doctor Octopus is confronted by Spider-Man in an old warehouse, the fight is on.
Spider-Man manages to gain the upper hand, of course, and after delivering a stunning shock to Doc Ock he reveals his true identity as Peter Parker, the student who interviewed him for a report just days earlier. In a moment of clarity Otto agrees to stop his fusion reactor, though it will cost the scientist his own life.
Mary Jane also sees Spider-Man without his mask for the first time, and she is just as surprised as anybody else to see that it is really Peter, her next door neighbor. Hesitantly, Peter must explain to her that they cannot be together – if his enemies found out, they would surely hunt her down and use her to gain advantage over Spider-Man.
At the end however, she runs out on her wedding to John Jameson (Daniel Gillies), son of the chief at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) in another attempt to get back with Peter Parker, who this time reluctantly agrees. In the meantime, Harry finds all of his father’s old Green Goblin equipment while the visions of his dead father are haunting him to avenge his death by getting rid of Spider-Man.
